Daisy Ridley Explains Rey's Growth from Parent Reveal in Star Wars 9

12 months ago

While we’ll still have to wait another year and a half or so for Star Wars 9 to hit theaters, fans are still eager to get any new details they can about the final installment of this new trilogy. Star Daisy Ridley recently took part in a Facebook Live Q&A with The Star Wars Show host Andi Gutierrez, where she was asked about how the reveal of her true parents at the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi will affect this pivotal character in Star Wars 9. When asked if she thought her desire to know more about her parents was a “weakness,” Daisy Ridley had this to say.

“I do not think that is a weakness. Great question, but I don’t think that is a weakness. I think longing for something, there’s usually a reason you’re longing for it. Even though she’s very hopeful about moving forward, there’s clearly some stuff that she needs to put to bed and that is all going to help her, moving forward. So I don’t think that’s a weakness. I think it’s a wonderful…again, sort of adds to the brilliant hopefulness that, what may have happened wasn’t so bad. Like, that she wasn’t just left there by these awful people. And, also, it leads her on this amazing journey. That’s part of the whole thing. She wouldn’t have gone. I think she wouldn’t have stayed if she didn’t really want that. She wouldn’t have had the moment with Luke and all of the other amazing stuff that happened.”

It was revealed towards the end of The Last Jedi that Rey’s parents were drunks who sold their child for more booze money, although their names were never fully identified. Many still believe that this was a red herring, and that the true nature of Rey’s parents will be fully revealed in Star Wars 9. Regardless, Daisy Ridley not only doesn’t think Rey thinking about her parents is a weakness, but she also doesn’t believe that people have any weaknesses, at all. Here’s what she had to say below.

“I don’t really believe in weaknesses in people. Because I think you can’t decide what’s good and what’s bad in a person because everything makes the whole and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, as we know. I for sure think people can work on themselves, with things like anger and jealousy, maybe things like that, but that’s workable, that’s not something that’s fixed that can’t be changed. You can work on that. And I don’t think she’s those things.”

After LucasFilm fired Colin Trevorrow, who had been attached to direct Star Wars 9 from a script he was developing with his writing partner Derek Connolly, the studio brought back Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J Abrams, who will direct from a script he’s co-writing with Chris Terrio (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Argo). While no specific story details have been released at this time, production is expected to begin this summer, with Disney setting a December 20, 2019 release date. You can take a look at the full Q&A with Daisy Ridley below, courtesy of Star Wars Facebook.